Tuscany, Italy, 1998

A few days earlier I had spotted this long, tree-lined drive that rose up into a large stand of trees that likely masked a home and farm buildings; the scene practically yelled at me, “Take My Picture!” At the first opportunity, I took three of my workshop students with me and went back to check it out. We talked about trying not to trespass by staying in what we assumed would be a public right-of-way close alongside the road where the driveway ended. A couple of minutes into walking up and down the roadside looking for the perfect (my perfect) angle, a car pulled over, stopped, and an older gentleman got out. As he approached, I figured we were busted and hoped we could get by with a quick apology. It turned out it was his driveway, his trees, the trees he had planted along the drive when he was a young man. He liked that we found the scene attractive, but did mention that now the trees were bigger and he wished he had planted them farther apart. He invited us up to his home. A hard-packed dirt courtyard, with heavy tree shading, and an assortment of chairs and tables made it clear this was the family hangout. He introduced us to his wife, his brother, his brother’s wife, and his mother. They served us cold drinks and snacks (not prepackaged). He took us on a tour of his beautiful home and art collection. I went through at least three rolls of film photographing this woman, his mother. She said something about a crazy photographer, but she was laughing, and I did not seem able to stop. All of this communication happened even though none of them spoke any English, and only one of us spoke just a basic amount of Italian.

Near the end of the movie “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” Judy Dench’s character says, “Nothing here has worked out quite as I expected.” Maggie Smith’s character replies, “Most things don’t. But, you know, sometimes what happens instead is the good stuff.”

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